• Published 6th Nov 2012
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The Reader - GnollReader



A gnoll appears in the Canterlot library and is forced to cope with an endless amount of problems as it gets to know the ponies a bit better.

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Chapter 13: Teeth

Upon arriving at the barn Purple Haze had gotten down from the gnoll's back. He slowly pushed the door open and walked inside. He was surprised that besides those that had followed him through the forest there were some other ponies present as well. The tables he had crashed had been replaced and were once again laden with food. How the pink pony had done this was a mystery to him.

The ponies were chatting wildly but when they noticed him everything became quiet. He cleared his throat, "Scar sorry for crashing pony party. It comes to celebrate with ponies if ponies will have it." and eat cake, mostly to eat cake.

Something suddenly latched onto his chest, he looked down to see a yellow pony clinging to him and looking up to him with teary eyes. "You came back! Don't you worry, Fluttershy is going to make everything okay."

He turned to Purple Haze, "What is yellow pony doing?"

She chuckled at her display of affection, "She's giving you a hug, didn't anypony ever hug you?"

He shook his head, "No ponies ever try to hug gnoll..." he looked down at the little thing on his chest, "What does Scar do?"

Applejack came up besides Purple Haze and gave a laugh, "Well shucks, you hug her back!"

The gnoll considered this, lifted his arms and returned the gesture. It felt strange, and he was afraid he'd crush the little thing against him. But still, it did feel nice. He set down the yellow one, "Hug pony happy?"

She simply nodded and smiled at him, there was something very soothing in her smile.

The next one to approach him was the pony with the dog, her smell reminded him of the apple trees outside. "Howdy, you sure had us going on a wild chase there! The name's Applejack! Pleasure to meet you!" she extended a hoof. The gesture puzzled him, she wasn't holding anything but she seemed to be expecting something.

Twilight seemed to sense his irritation, "It's called a hoofshake. It's an old fashioned form of greeting a friend. You grab the other pony's hoof firmly,..." he extended his paw and grabbed her hoof, "and then you shake it." He shook it. As the orange pony was wildly flung up and down by his paw he couldn't help but think what an odd greeting this was. But if it was a greeting for a friend he would do his best.

After what he deemed enough shaking he set her down again and released her hoof. She seemed a bit wobbly, "Well I reckon, that's the strongest hoofshake Ah ever had!"

He turned to Twilight, "Scar shake apple pony too hard?"

"Well, the other pony isn't actually supposed to lift off..."

The orange pony seemed to have regained her composure, "Don't ya worry. Us Apples are build of tough wood." Was this pony made of wood? She did seem tougher than the others he had met. "So tell me, did ya really get ma sister and her friends out of the forest?"

The white one walked up, "Oh yes, do tell us how you got those poor little things out of that dreadful forest."

He shrugged, "Scar finds three tiny ponies in forest playing with wooden fangs. Forest no place for ponies so Scar get them out." he fished himself a piece of cake.

The two ponies seemed a bit surprised, "Could you repeat that part with the wooden fangs again?" the white one asked.

"Tiny ponies sit in tree, wooden fangs sit below. So Scar scares them off." The two ponies exchanged a look.

"Are we talkin' bout timberwolves here?" the orange one asked as he swallowed another piece in delight.

Purple Haze spoke up, "Didn't you know? I told the story a day ago."

"Ah don't get to town that often, and Apple Bloom never mentioned anythin' bout timberwolves!"

"Neither did Sweetie Belle! I don't get out of my shop that often either. To think in what peril they were in!" Rarity held a hoof to her head.

"Rather what peril they're gonna be in! Ah knew they weren't telling the whole truth!" The two ponies left Scar to himself while they discussed an appropriate punishment for the fillies. As he was deciding which cake to eat next another pony walked up to him.

"Uhm, hello?" he turned around. It was a mint blue pony, "I'm Colgate." he nodded a greeting. She seemed nervous. "Can I ... Can I see your teeth?"

"Why do want to see his teeth?" Purple Haze had walked up to them, the blue pony blushed a bit.

"Well, I am Ponyville's dentist so I know a lot about teeth... but I've never seen teeth like his before! I would just love to know about them!" she was growing more enthusiastic with every word. Scar was amused by this pony's request, ponies usually shied away from him when they saw his teeth. Of course there was the pink exception, but he wasn't sure if she even really was a pony.

He got down on all fours to give the blue one a better angle of sight and opened his mouth. The blue pony gave an excited gasp and instantly started inspecting his teeth. The talking pony was also watching intently and noted down any remarks the blue one would make. Purple Haze was unsure if this wasn't crossing the line but as long as the gnoll was content with their requests there was no need to worry.

---

Had he known that the blue one intended to climb into his mouth as far as she could he wouldn't have agreed to this. She was currently inspecting his back teeth and had crawled almost half way into his maw. She tasted funny, there was a plant growing in the forest which had the same cool flavor on his tongue. How was he supposed to eat cake now?

Colgate meanwhile was having the time of her life. The gnoll's teeth were like a treasure to her, never had she seen anything like them. Every tooth told her a different story. Every detail revealed something about his eating habits. Twilight was also enjoying this rare opportunity to learn about the gnoll's anatomy.

"Could you give me an unbiased professional description of his teeth and their functionality?" she asked as Colgate was busy inspecting every detail.

"These are amazing! Absolutely flawless! It seems they're meant not to cut the meat off but rather rip huge pieces out at once!" she felt his jaw, "If I'm judging the jaw correctly he can crush metal with these teeth! Oh wait, there's something stuck between the last two... eewwww...."

"What did you find?" Twilight was curious about the gnoll's diet.

"I think it's a frog... gross, it's really flat!" she tossed the thing down his throat as he sighed in relief, that had been stuck there for days.

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